Aerosol particles in the atmosphere and their short-term interactions with gases have been overlooked in climate-change mitigation policies and emissions-trading schemes, say Drew Shindell from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, and his colleagues.
The team found that methane's global-warming potential is greater when combined with aerosols — atmospheric particles such as dust, sea salt, sulphates and soot. The picture is complicated: some aerosols cool the planet, some warm it, and other components of the overall climate system, such as ozone, are also affected.
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Climate: Aerosols overlooked. Nature 462, 14 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/462014c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/462014c
